


Comfort

by mrspollifax



Series: advent calendar 2020 [8]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Advent Calendar, Basically, Cassie and Teal'c share some coffee and talk about the universe, Domestic Fluff, Ficlet, Found Family, Gen, is it an alien conspiracy?, there is referenced sam/jack because i am me but they are literally not even in the room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27965423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrspollifax/pseuds/mrspollifax
Summary: It's not often they're all in the same place these days, what with Jack's job here in D.C., Cassie's classes at Georgetown, and SG-1's never-ending mission list that means on any given day they're still off-world more often than not.
Series: advent calendar 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040538
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Advent Calendar, Day 8: Comfort. The outline of this fic was approximately 10,000 years old and was from a prompt that I am pretty sure was meant to be crack at the time. But I think about it literally every fall, so I finished writing it and am setting it free into the world.

Cassie’s the first one up and into the kitchen, still in her t-shirt and pajama pants. An early-Sunday-morning stillness hangs around the house, even outside. The sun’s up, but not high, the light scattering softly through the turning leaves outside Jack’s kitchen window. She sets her phone to play tinny-sounding music over its speaker and sets it down on the narrow ledge above the sink.

It's not often they're all in the same place these days, what with Jack's job here in D.C., Cassie's classes at Georgetown, and SG-1's never-ending mission list that means on any given day they're still off-world more often than not. Cassie sees Jack for dinner at least once a week - as long as the world's not actually trying to end - and she sees Sam about half the weekends she manages to make it to town. But this time Sam’s brought Daniel and Teal’c with her, and they’ve all holed up at Jack’s townhouse for the weekend.

Cassie doesn’t know what the reason for the convention is, and she knows better than to ask. She’s just glad to be able to see them, alive and not too much the worse for wear.

Even though they don’t get to do this often, their mornings have taken on a little ritual anyway. Daniel sleeps in. Right now he's ensconced in the guest room farthest from the kitchen, so there's no telling how late it'll be before he finally makes an appearance. Sam and Jack usually beat Daniel, but not by much – Cassie doesn't think it's likely that they're actually still asleep, given all those years of military discipline, but they spend so much time apart that she can't really begrudge them the time to themselves. Cassie and Teal'c, on the other hand, are the early risers. They share coffee and breakfast and poke fun at the others as they make their slow way out to join the world.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Cassie mostly does the poking fun, while Teal’c tilts his head in agreement.

This morning, Cassie puts the coffee on first. While it brews, she pulls a tiny saucepan out of the cabinet, grabs the milk from the fridge, and starts poking through the pantry and the spice cabinet. By the time she’s standing in front of the stove stirring, Teal’c in the kitchen, too, getting out breakfast.

Bagels and cream cheese today, it seems.

Cassie takes down a mug from the cabinet by the coffee maker and fills it half with coffee and half with the milk concoction in her saucepan. She hesitates, then reaches up for a second cup. “Do you want some?” she asks.

Teal’c inclines his head, which Cassie takes as a yes.

Cassie sets the cup on the table in front of Teal'c and drops into the chair opposite him. She wraps her hands around her own mug and lifts it up, resting the rim against her chin as she breathes in deeply.

“This does not smell like coffee,” Teal’c says.

Cassie laughs. “It’s not. Well, it is, but it’s not  _ just _ coffee. It’s pumpkin spice, but not like that mass-produced stuff they sell in shops. It has actual pumpkin in it. I found a recipe because --”

She pauses, not sure if she’d really intended to say this out loud. Teal’c just waits, patient as always. 

Well. She’d started to explain, so she might as well finish. “On Hanka, there was this drink we made - my mother made - for the harvest festival.” She taps her fingers on the side of the mug. “It reminds me of that.”

“It was harvest time on the planet we visited last week,” Teal’c says. “The children sang.”

“Badly, if my homeworld was any example.” 

Teal’c’s lips turn up in a smile. 

“I suppose it’s always harvest on some planet or other,” Cassie adds. That’s still hard to get her head around, even after all this time. Despite the fact that she came from a different planet herself, like some science fiction thriller. Like Superman, but without the powers or the kryptonite.

Teal’c nods. “I take great comfort in the vastness of the universe.” 

Cassie doesn’t think he really means it, or at least not the way the words imply. Teal’c values the little things too much, quietly treasures his friends and comrades-in-arms. He’s sitting here with her at this dining room table drinking coffee with too much pumpkin made from a recipe Cassie had found on the internet. The vast universe, the larger story - those matter, but these small moments, honor among friends, love among family, are the reason  _ why. _

That’s what she’s come to believe, anyway.

“Have you shared this with the others?” he asks then, and Cassie’s sure she’s right.

She shrugs. "Sam doesn't like pumpkin. Jack doesn't like frou frou coffee, or so he claims – though I once caught him with a Starbucks cup that I'm pretty sure was caffe mocha." Teal'c raises an eyebrow, and Cassie points a finger at him sternly. "But don't tell him I said so."

"I will not."

"Daniel just looks at me like he knows, and sometimes I can't ..." Cassie shrugs. "He knows, but he doesn't  _ know." _

“Then it is my honor, Cassandra Fraiser, to share.” 

He takes a drink of the coffee. He doesn’t make a face, because Teal’c never makes faces, but Cassie can tell. "You don't like pumpkin either,” she accuses.

He doesn’t answer. “May your harvest be fruitful,” he says instead, very seriously, and continues drinking his coffee in a way that seems like a ritual.

Cassie laughs and leans back in her chair, still smiling as she sips from her own mug. She looks out into the bright autumn colors and feels it all the way to her toes. Love, and peace, and gratitude for this weird little family that took her in and let her make a new home.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm at [tulipsandtesseracts](http://tulipsandtesseracts.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


End file.
